NAME Nursling PARISH Nursling and HUNDRED Buddlesgate DISTRICT NGR SU 378163 GEOLOGY River gravels, alluvium and some London clay

SITE CONTEXT The church is sited on the E edge of the flood plain of the at about 10m OD. The main area of settlement, now almost beneath a junction of the M27 E of the church, is at approx 30m OD on a slight W facing slope.

PLAN TYPE & DESCRIPTION Church centre - hamlet - irregular row. Village centre - regular row.

The area of settlement around the church is small with a large house and a few cottages in an irregular row. To the E is a farmstead.

Nearly 1km E of the church centre and in the shadow of junction 3 of the M27 is another area of settlement which consists of a row of properties made up of five different units along the S side of the road. From the E, there is a block with a farm complex, then a block of less regular shape with a rear boundary at an angle to the road. This is divided into two parts, only one of which is occupied. The general line of the rear boundary is continued into the next unit which has two properties. The fourth block is shorter in length and is divided into three but only two of the tofts are occupied. The fifth, W unit is along narrow plot lying parallel to the road and is probably of post-medieval date as are the several scattered plots of similar type along the roads to the W and SW.

On the N side of the road there is a block of three tofts only one of which is occupied along a road to the N. A single triangular toft adjoins the W side. On the E side of the road to the N are two properties, one of which may be a farm.

AREAS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL POTENTIAL

CHURCH & CHURCHYARD St Boniface. Essentially early 14C but retaining evidence of an earlier church. Remains of 13C chancel chapel arch.

BUILDINGS (Listed) Church of St Boniface II* Nursling House 1778 with late C19 W wing II Church Fmhse Possibly of late med date Oldest parts of c. 1600 with late C18 recladding and extension The stones were quarried from a nearby monastic site II Bargain Fmhse C17 reclad C19 II Northcliffe School Mid C16 with late C18 changes II Wall 20m W of Grove Place House C18 II Wall to forecourt of Grove Place House C18 II Screen of Grove Place House 1900 II Griffon House C16 origin mostly C19 II Church of St John 1855 II Stables NE of Rownhams House C18 II Nursling Mill Watermill now 2 dwellings 1728 and late C20 II Manor House Farmhouse and stables C17 but mainly C19 II Granary 30m W of Manor House Fmhse Early C19 II Yew Tree Fmhse C17 with recladding of c. 1700 II

(Un-listed)

SMR DATA 13 35921690 Ewk Saxon pits found during gravel extraction 28 365 167 Meso flint debitage 29 373 168 Med shrunken village of upton 32 36611648 Med holloway 37 360 167 Roman building material 38 360 167 Neo flint debitage 43 36581668 Med building Site of Grove Place 44 36671675 Med building Grove Place 51 35901650 Saxon church 52 35901650 Med church 64 36151659 BA ditch, flint debitage and pot 65 35991652 Med ditch probably C16 66 35911654 Prehist pot 67 35961662 Ditch Unknown date 91 36601678 Negative evidence 93 36901670 Negative evidence

ADDITIONAL SITES/FEATURES 1 37081633 Site of a cottage and two small outbuildings shown on the Tithe map. The buildings stood near the former road to Upton which was re-routed when the motorway was constructed. There are slight earthworks which probably mark the site of the buildings 2 37151627 Site of a house and several small outbuildings shown on the Tithe map. The complex probably represents a small farmstead 3 37171665 Hollow-way. The course of the road from Upton to Nursling before the construction of the motorway 4 37321692 Site of cottage shown on Tithe map. The field is at present in arable cultivation 5 36761603 Site of two detached cottages shown on Tithe map. Proabably of squatters cottages of post-medieval date as they seem to occupy an area of roadside waste but a late med date is not impossible

CARTOGRAPHIC SOURCES OS 1:2500 SU 3416-3516, 3616-3716, Tithe map 21M65/F7/157/2

AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS

BIBLIOGRAPHY Hase, P. 1988 'The Mother Churches of ' in Minsters and Parish Churches Oxford University Committee for Archaeology Monograph No. 17 Oxford

PRIMARY HISTORIC SOURCES Domesday The Bishop of Winchester for the supplies of the monks of Winchester. It was always in the lands of the Monastry. Before 1066 and now it answered for 5 hides. Lands for 6 pl. In lordship 1 pl; 21 villagers and 8 smallholders with 10 pl. A church; 1 slave; a mill at 22s 8d; meadow, 140 acres; woodland for 5 pigs pasturage. Value before 1066 £8; later 100s; now £9; however, it pays £10.

Subsidy Rolls 1334 2. 7. 0 1524 6. 19. 10 (40 taxpayers)

Manorial Documents DCAD Vol VI 4634 Letters patent by John Golde rector of Notechellingg, . Assent of grant of a free and perpetual chantry in their chapel built in their manor which they have in this parish. May 1291.

6511 chirograph whereby William ..., William de Elsfeld and Nicholas de Lycheffeld, clerk, demised to Geoffrey Derkes and John Terstewode, their fishery at Bewifones Melles in Nhutshulling for 7 years. Rent 36s p.a.

Hearth Tax 1665 110 hearths chargeable (34 houses) 14 hearths not chargeable (12 houses) Total 46 houses.

PLACE NAME c. 800 nhutscelle; 877 nuhtscillingæ. OE hnutusciell 'nutshell'. Reason obscure. Maybe meaning a small place?

PHOTOGRAPHS 2/33-36

OTHER PROJECT ARCHIVE ELEMENTS According to his Life St Boniface entered into a monastery at Nhutscelle for his education a little before 700. The place is usually identified as Nursling. A mother church here is unlikely as it is close to both Eling and , both mother churches and the earliest reference to the church indicates a poor and simple manorial church. It is possible that St Boniface's monastery was at but at that time the area was known as Nursling. Alternatively, there mat have been an aerly church here which was sacked by the Danes and so was re-built on a safer site at Romsey (Hase 1988, p 46 and p 62).

Originally two manors: Nursling Priors and Nursling Beaufo which were joined together at the Dissolution. Nursling Prior belonged to the bishop of Winchester, granted in 877 with 5 mansae. From the charter it is possible to say that the manor lay on the W side of the parish and was bounded by the Test on it's S and W boundaries. Nursling Beaufo was not mentioned before C12 (VCH Vol III p 344).

Excavations by TVAT in advance of gravel quarrying uncovered isolated pits and other features of a medieval date. Other work adjacent to the church revealed a large number of post pits with little dating evidence. Associated with monastery? Pre-Conquest architecture has been revealed in the church and it is reasonable to assume that the bulk of an early monastic or ecclesiastical ocupation lies within the present churchyard (Green 1985, p 39).

Grant of land by Tunbeorht 877 (ref. 1277 in Sawyer, 1968, p 370).